Chapter 3: Dip

Kotaro, Oswald, and Jessica sat in the back of the black van, with a steel wall separating them from the drivers. Kotaro sighed and propped himself up against the wall of the van, blood still dripping form his arms and face.

The three sat there in silence, thinking their own thoughts. After awhile, Kotaro broke the silence.

"Jessica…" He said. "I have to ask… why do these guys want your husband so badly?"

Jessica sighed and looked up at him.

"...The mayor of ToonTown was recently murdered…" She said. "And my husband has been framed for the crime…"

Oswald and Kotaro gasped.

"But…why would anyone kill the mayor??" Kotaro cried.

"Because of his will…" Oswald said.

"His will?" Kotaro asked.

Jessica nodded.

"I was good friends with him…" She said. "Every Toon knows that Mayor Acme had a will…"

"He promised to leave ToonTown to us Toons…" Oswald said. "It's all in that will…"

"And if the will never shows up…anyone can just claim town…" Kotaro said, putting two and two together.

The two Toons nodded.

"Hey…wait…" Oswald suddenly said. "Every Toon knows about Mayor Acme's will…why didn't you know?"

"And what kind of Toon bleeds?" Jessica asked.

Kotaro cringed slightly and then hung his head down, chuckling.

"Well….guess my secrets out then…" He said.

He then looked up at them.

"Truth is…I'm not a Toon, I'm not even FROM here… I'm from another world…" Kotaro said.

Jessica and Oswald blinked in confusion.

"Another…world?" Jessica asked.

Kotaro smiled and nodded.

"I'm not supposed to tell anyone, but the evidence was against me…and it was bound to come out sooner or later…" Kotaro shrugged.

Before Kotaro could say more, the van stopped. The two double doors in the back opened up, to reveal the weasels, and Judge Doom.

"We're here…" Doom smirked evilly.

Jessica, Oswald, and Kotaro were lead out of the car and into a large warehouse, while Doom stayed behind to unload something from the van.

When Doom finished unloading, he headed inside, only to see the two Toons and Kotaro up against a brick wall, with the weasel's pointing their guns at them.

"We searched 'em boss, the will isn't on 'em!" The leader said.

"…So that's what they were looking for…" Kotaro mumbled. "Meaning this Judge guy did it!"

"No matter…" Doom said. "I doubt that it'll show up by midnight tonight…"

"And what happens at midnight?" Oswald asked suspiciously.

The leader of the weasel's turned to Doom.

"Should we tell 'em boss?" He asked.

Doom just smirked.

"I don't see why not…" He said.

Doom then approached the three, with his cane in hand.

"Thanks to some business work by myself…at midnight… ToonTown will be legally mine…" He said.

The three glared.

"And I suppose YOUR responsible for Mayor Acme's death?" Jessica asked.

As if out of sheer pride, Doom gave an evil laugh.

"You are correct my dear!" He laughed.

Kotaro took a step forward, but took one step back when the weasels pointed their guns at him.

"Why do you want ToonTown so much that you'd kill the mayor, and frame it on someone else??" He cried, demanding answers.

Doom then turned away from them, slowly walking towards something that was covered in a large tarp.

"Simple." He replied. "This town…is pure insanity…"

"No duh!" Kotaro said sarcastically.

"Since I've had, ToonTown under my jurisdiction, my goal had been to reign in the insanity…" Doom continued. "And the only way to do that is to make Toon's respect the law… Mayor Acme was soft, he couldn't care less if Toons broke the law or not…That's when I decided to step in."

"And you just DECIDED to off him, thinking you could do a better job??" Oswald growled.

Doom just nodded.

"Then why did you frame my husband??" Jessica yelled.

"Simple…" He replied. "I knew well that you and Mr. Acme were good friends…If certain people interpret that in the wrong way…"

"Meaning, you planned to make it look like she was cheating on her husband, thus providing him with a motive to kill the mayor, and successfully framing him?" Kotaro asked.

"You catch on rather quick…" Doom smirked.

Doom then approached the object with the tarp, he pulled it off, revealing several metal barrels which had the words 'Dip' written on it.

"Do you know, what this is?" Doom asked.

Jessica and Oswald both took a step back in fear.

"What's the big deal?" Kotaro asked.

"I…It's…Dip…" Oswald gulped.

"It's every Toon's worst nightmare…" Jessica replied.

Kotaro arched a brow in confusion.

"What's so scary about it?" He asked.

Doom just chuckled.

"Allow me to demonstrate…"

With that, he went over to a crate and ripped it open. After digging thru it, he pulled a Toon shoe, which squeaked as it was carried over to the barrels of Dip. Doom put on a thick rubber glove and grabbed the shoe as he tore open one of the barrels, revealing the same liquid he had used to send Benny out of control.

"No…" Oswald gasped. "He's not gonna…"

Doom then submerged the Toon shoe in the vat of Dip. The shoe screeched as it was forced inside the acidic liquid. Jessica, Kotaro, and Oswald watched in horror as the shoe melted right in Doom's hand, while the Weasel's just laughed evilly.

"YOU MONSTER!!!" Kotaro yelled.

Doom just gave an evil smile.

"Oh? I was hoping you'd see me as thorough…" He said. "This is how I handle things in ToonTown…."

The tow Toons and Kotaro just glared. Just then, they all heard the sound of a box falling. They looked around, only to hear another crashing sound.

"What was that??" One of the weasel's cried.

They then heard the sound of footsteps from somewhere in the warehouse.

"It seem's that we've been followed…" Doom said.

"Shall we search the place boss?" The leader Weasel asked.

"That won't be necessary…" Doom replied. "For our intruder is going to come right to us…"

With that, Doom went over to one of his 'Dip' barrels and banged his cane against it, tapping out a beat. Jessica, Oswald, and the Weasel's covered their ears, while Doom continued to tap out the beat.

"…Ok, can someone tell me what this is all about?" Kotaro asked.

Doom continued to tap out the beat with his cane, while Kotaro watched on in confusion.

"Shave and a haircut..." Doom sang along.

At that moment, a wall of boxes came toppling down as another Toon crashed his way onto the scene. This was another rabbit, he was taller then Oswald, and very lanky. He wore red baggy overalls and a spotted blue bow-tie. He had white fur, with an orange tuff of hair on his head.

"TWOOOOOO BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITS!!!!!!!" The Toon sang out loud.

Doom grabbed the lanky Toon by the throat and lifted him up to eye-level.

"Got you…" He smirked.

"ROGER!!!" Jessica cried.

Kotaro looked at Jessica.

"You know him?" He asked.

"That's my husband!" Jessica replied.

Kotaro's jaw dropped as he looked at Jessica, and then at Roger, and back, and forth a few times.

"THAT'S her husband??" He thought.

Doom just cackled evilly.

"It seems we've caught our 'murderer'" Doom smirked.

With that, he went towards the open barrel of Dip. Kotaro and the others rushed to stop him, but were halted by the Weasel's pointing their weapons at them.

"I know you framed me!" Roger chocked, with Doom still holding him by the throat. "I heard it all!"

"Maybe so…" Doom said. "But you won't live to tell anyone…"

The Weasel's then turned to watch Roger get dipped. While their backs were turned, Kotaro reached into his pocket and pulled out a small vial of golden liquid.

"What's that?" Oswald asked.

"An Elixir…" Kotaro replied. "Something I brought from home, just in case of an emergency…"

He then opened it and drank its contents. As Kotaro exhaled, a small golden mist came from his mouth.

"Perfect…" He smiled. "My energy is coming back, I can fight again!"

While the Weasel's back was still to them, Kotaro took out the Keyblade and aimed it at them.

"BLIZZARD!!!"

Before they could react, the Weasels' were frozen solid. Doom looked and gasped when he saw his henchmen frozen.

"Stay here!" Kotaro told Jessica.

Kotaro and Oswald then leapt past them and drew their weapons, running at Doom. Doom used his free hand and snapped his fingers, summoning Heartless to stop them. (Three Soldiers, two Shadows, and a Large Body to be exact.)

"Get the Judge!" Oswald cried. "I can handle these guys!"

Kotaro nodded and ran past the Heartless, slashing at the Large Body as he passed. As Doom was about dip Roger, Kotaro slammed into Doom's side, which sent Kotaro, Doom, and Roger to the ground.

Kotaro quickly recovered and went to attack Doom, but he also recovered rather quickly and took off running.

"You'll never stop me!!" Doom yelled. "You're dead! You're all dead!"

Kotaro then looked at Roger.

"Protect your wife, I'll get that Judge!" Kotaro said.

Roger nodded and ran towards Jessica, while Kotaro took off after Doom.

"DOOM!!!" Kotaro yelled as he chased after him. "YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY!!!"

Here's Chapter 3, we're closing in on the climax of the ToonTown world

Anyway R&R